I'm looking for a way to keep track of the state of my kegs - how many times were they washed with a caustic cleaner since the last acid cleaning, how long ago was it cleaned (and pressurized), what beer is in it (and for how long?), things like that.

Post-its work for a couple of kegs, but I'd like something more robust and slightly more scalable (a dozen kegs, perhaps). Some of the software solutions I've found by googling look like they could work, but appear to be geared towards professionals and super complicated (and expensive).

Seems like just etching a number on each keg and keeping a spreadsheet would work just fine.
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GrahamApr 18 '13 at 12:13

2

I label my kegs (A, B, C, …) and keep notes in a web-based tool that's geared toward other brew-journal(ing). For what you describe, a spreadsheet would be perfect.
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jsled♦Apr 18 '13 at 12:38

I'm in the midst of developing a system where I use my phone to scan in QR Codes on Kegs and update the information on the Keg fridge server program I'm developing at the same time (using scales to determine content of Kegs). I know this isn't an answer, but I'll add an answer properly when I have something concrete. I'm adding this as part of my new setup: homebrewtalk.com/f170/…
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Doug EdeyApr 18 '13 at 14:36

What about a grease pencil? It's low tech, but more robust than post-its and suited perfectly for stainless.
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Thomas E. TamayoMay 15 '13 at 17:30

I have 11 ball lock kegs and have tried many things (notepad file with corresponding numbered kegs, etc) but eventually settled on good old-fashioned duct tape stuck to the side of the plastic top piece of each keg. 1 piece of duct tape says what beer is in the keg and another gets a little line added each time it is filled with a new beer.

When the line count is odd I take all the pieces off, soak them in PBW if needed, inspect the o-rings, and clean all the little pieces more thoroughly. If its even numbered I just make sure it is clean to the eye and sanitize it. When 1 o-ring is bad I replace them all and restart the numbering.

Right when any keg runs out of beer I open and rinse it out with water then store it upside down with the lid off. This makes the more thorough cleaning, before filling, very quick and simple.

You could rotate in an acid cleaner every X number of times if you really want to, although I have found no need to do so yet. This would be different if you were using sanke kegs since you can not clean them with a brush, or you are using some sort of cleaning setup and never even open them.

As far as how long the beer has been in the keg, that is tracked on the brewing software I use. I do not track which keg it was placed into on that software, just that it was kegged on a specific date.

I could see this method working for any number of kegs as long as the kegs never leave the house. If I were distributing the kegs I would probably switch to an excel file (until I got over a couple hundred) and permanently mark each keg with a number, because the extra wear and tear would probably remove the duct tape.